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A Del Norte County Superior Court judge is expected to determine today if a mixed-martial artist accused of ripping the still-beating heart from his friend's body is mentally competent to stand trial.

Jarrod Gaylen Wyatt, 27, stands accused of murdering and mutilating his friend and training partner, Taylor Powell, 21, in the early morning hours of March 21, 2010. Wyatt has pleaded not guilty to a litany of charges and faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of murder and special circumstance allegations of mayhem and torture.

After a defense expert, Dr. Robert Soper, provided the court with a report stating that Wyatt is currently incompetent to stand trial because of a lack of understanding of the court proceedings, criminal proceedings were suspended in the case pending further evaluations. Ultimately, a determination by Del Norte County Superior Court Judge William Follett is expected to come at the conclusion of today's hearing.

Under state law, defendants must be competent to stand trial -- meaning they must both be able to understand the criminal proceedings and assist their attorneys in mounting a defense.

"(Competency) is part of your right to criminal due process -- it's the idea that you have to be able to understand what's happening to you," said University of California Hastings College of Law professor David Levine, speaking generally about competency in a previous interview with the Times-Standard.

"You could have somebody who's bizarre as hell or psychotic as hell and is still competent to stand trial," said Marshall Cherkas, a Los Angeles psychiatrist who handles competency evaluations. "People can be extremely mentally ill but still be quite competent to stand trial."

Conversely, Cherkas said, it's possible for someone legally insane at the time of the offense to be found mentally competent to stand trial.

In Wyatt's case, Del Norte District Attorney Jon Alexander said two other doctors commissioned by the court -- Otto Vanoni and Douglas Tucker -- have found Wyatt to be competent. Wyatt's attorney, James Fallman, reportedly told the court during Wyatt's last appearance that he felt his client was competent, according to a report in the Crescent City Daily Triplicate. Fallman did not return Times-Standard calls seeking comment for this report.

If Wyatt is ruled incompetent, he would be remanded to a mental institution, where specialists would try to prepare him to stand trial -- a process that could consist of anything from medicating him to tutoring him on the legal system.

According to court records, Wyatt was arrested after Del Norte County Sheriff's deputies and Yurok Tribal police arrived at a home near the mouth of the Klamath River on March 21, 2010, finding him naked and covered in blood from head to toe. When officers contacted Wyatt, according to the documents, he told them, "I killed him," and said he had cut out Powell's heart and tongue.

Upon searching the residence, officers found Powell dead on the couch, his chest cut open, his heart, tongue, and the skin of his face removed. An autopsy determined that the organs had been removed while Powell was still alive. What was later determined to be Powell's heart was found charred in a wood-burning stove in the residence, according to Dr. Neil Kushner, who performed the autopsy.

According to witness testimony at a preliminary hearing in the case, Wyatt and Powell had ingested psychedelic mushroom tea and became preoccupied with the idea that a tidal wave was coming, that the end of the world was upon them and that a struggle between God and the devil was taking place. Upon his arrest, Wyatt reportedly told deputies that he had been fighting the devil.

Follett has scheduled a hearing on the competency matter for 8:30 a.m. today.